Monte Cristo Sandwich

The first time I ever had a Monte Cristo sandwich was either at Bennigan's or Cheddar's.   This is a  very unique sandwich for sure.  It seems quite odd to think about a sandwich being dipped in pancake batter but it's actually really good.  It's not  a sandwich you would want to eat everyday but for a splurge once in a while it's definitely worth it.

You start by building a sandwich using 3 slices of bread.  You use Ham, Turkey and two kinds of cheese.  I am not a huge fan of Swiss Cheese but the original Monte Cristo does have swiss cheese.  I used provolone instead of swiss and then monterrey jack cheese.  This sandwich calls for 4 slices but I would just use 2 slices per sandwich next time..... save some calories.

When serving this sandwich raspberry jam goes nicely with and a dust of powder sugar.

Start with 3 slices of bread per sandwich, I used wheat bread but you can use whatever kind you would like.... sorry for all the bread crumbs in all the pics!

add a piece of cheese, turkey and then another slice of the same kind of cheese (like I said next time I might just add one slice per layer instead of two).

Then add the second slice of bread, cheese, ham then more cheese and top it off with the last slice of bread.

After you make your sandwiches wrap them in plastic wrap

then smash them with the palm of your your hand or a rolling pin

here is what it should look like...wrap the sandwiches back in the plastic wrap until you are ready for them

Make the pancake mix according to the instructions but make sure it's thin enough add more milk if need be 

Cut the sandwich in half corner to corner and coat with batter on both sides

place into hot oil and cook 3 to 4 minutes on both sides until golden brown.  This looks pretty messy but the second and third sandwich was a lot easier!!  It took a minute to get the technique down!

dust with powder sugar and serve with raspberry jam ;)

Monte Cristo

3 pieces of bread (whatever you would like) I used wheat
3 slices of ham
3 slices of turkey
1 or 2 slices of Cheddar cheese
1 or 2 slices of Swiss cheese or provolone
Saran wrap

Dusting of Powdered Sugar
Raspberry Jam

To Deep Fry:

Pancake mix –make according to box
about 2 inches of oil in the bottom of a large pot

Your layers will be: bread, swiss, turkey, swiss, bread, cheddar, ham, cheddar and bread

Take a piece of Saran Wrap and place a sandwich in the middle.  You want to squish the sandwich and then wrap it tight.  The sandwich should be half of what you started with.

Place sealed and wrapped sandwiches in the fridge until you are ready to fry them up.

Make Pancake batter according to box.  It should be thinner than cake mix batter.  Add some milk/water to make it thinner. The mixes are all different.  Thick will work, but it adds a lot of breading to the sandwich.

Heat oil in pot.

Remove sandwiches from refrigerator and unwrap.  Cut them in half, from corner to corner.  You should have a triangle.

Dip each triangle into the batter and VERY CAREFULLY add the triangle to the hot oil.  It will bubble up over the sandwich.  Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side.  They should be golden brown.

With long tongs, remove sandwiches and set on a bakers rack to cool.  Sprinkle each sandwich with powdered sugar and serve with jam.